US refuses to send contractors to Ukraine for F-16 maintenance

The Biden administration has supposedly rejected a proposal to send US contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western-supplied military equipment, including F-16 fighter jets, due to security concerns.

Source: The Wall Street Journal with reference to its sources, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The WSJ stressed that the White House National Security Council had considered sending civilian contractors to Ukraine to maintain F-16s and other military weapons, but intelligence and other agencies had found such a move too risky so far.

Nevertheless, the US side hopes that European countries will "take on more—and perhaps all—of the responsibility for maintaining the F-16s" in Ukraine.

"The intelligence community raised concerns over the prospect of Russia targeting American contractors in Ukraine," a US official told the WSJ on the condition of anonymity. 

The journalists added that the Biden administration has not previously ruled out sending US contractors to Ukraine in the future but does not expect them to go there in the near future.

The refusal to send personnel to maintain the F-16s came to light after Ukraine lost the first fighter jet it received from its Western allies a few weeks ago. 

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